Wire tensioning and twisting machine



May 22, 1923.

1,456,127 A. J. GERRARD ET AL WIRE TENSIONING AND TWISTING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 7, 1922 A. J. GERRARD ET AL WIRE TENSIONING AND TWISTING MACHINE May 22, 1923.

- 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 7, 1922 v k MN 3wo'2;l1'o1 disc J Gerrard 7 A. J. GERRA'RD ET AL WIRE TENSIONING- AND TWISTING MACHINE Filed March '7, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 dlea J. fierrard MPaI-vin Wight 7 GHQ: um

I which it appertains to make and use the Patented May 22, 1923.

UNITED STATES ALEC J. GERBARD AND PARVIN WRIGHT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

WIRETENSIONING AND TWISTING MACHINE.

Application filed March 7, 1922. Serial No. 541,777.

To all whom it may concern: ,5?

Be it known that we, ALEG J. GIaB/RARI) and PARvIN WRIGHT, respectively a subject of the King of Great Britain and a citizen of the United States, each residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements 'in- Wire Tensioning and Twisting Machines; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description .of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to same.

This invention relates to wire tensioning and twisting machines, and has for its object to provide a machine of this character which will be simple in construction, comparatively inexpensive to manufacture, and

more efiicient in action than those heretofore proposed.

' With thesand other objects in view, the

invention consists in the novel details of construction and combinations of parts more fully hereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

This invention constitutes an improvemeht over that disclosed in our copending application, Serial No. 418634, filed October 22, 1920, and entitled Wire tensioning and twisting machine.

Referring to the accompanying drawin s forming a part of this specification, in whic like numerals designate like parts in all the views; I

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic front eleva: tional view of a machine made in accordance with this invention;

Figure 2 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a side view partially broken J away, of the rotary cutter;

Figure 4 is an end elevational view of the parts shown in Figure 1, as seen from the left of said figure;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary vertical sec-- tional view taken approximately on the line 5 5 of Figure 4, looking in'the direction of the arrows;

Fi re 6 is a view of a wireholding-post detached from the machine;

Figure- 7 is an end view of the parts shown in Figure 6, with the deformed end of a wire in place;- 1

Figure 8 is a transverse-sectional view taken approximately on the line 8-8 of Figure 5, looking in the direction of the arrows; r

Figure 9 is a transverse sectional view taken approximately on the line 9--9 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; I

Figure 10 is a diagrammatic plan view oidthe wire knot formed by this machine; a

Figure 11 is a sectional detail view illus-' tratlng the operation of the cutter lever and its associated parts.

I 1 indicates any, suitable base provided at one end with an upright extension 2, in

1,456,127 PATENT OFFICE,

ing pinion 9, as will be clear from the drawings.

An end plate or member 10 conforming substantially in shape with that of the housing 6 is secured to the base member 1 and to said housing by means of suitable'bolts 11 and together with the said housing forms a journal "for the hubs or extensions 12 and 13, with which the twisting pinion 9 is provided.

The said hubs or extensions 12 and 13, as

i:-: usual in this type of twisting mechanism are provided with slots 14 and 15 respectively, of a width of at least twice the diamcter of the wire 47, which is to be employed in'the machine. These slots are connected by the slot 16 in the pinion 9 which latter slot is of reduced width, preferably only exceeding the diameter of the wire sufficiently to permit its ready insertion and withdrawal. The housing 6 as weil as the end member 10, are also provided, as best shown in Figuresl, 4 and 9, with slots 17 and 18 respectively, of a width equal to at least twice the diameter of-the wire.

' The member 10 is provided with the rigid wire holding post 20 having a horizontal slot 21 therein, adapted to receive the wire,

and the member 1 is likewise provided with the rigid post 22 also having a horizontal slot 23 to receive the wire. The said post 22 may be surrounded by the oscillating sleeve 24, see Figures 1, 3 and 8, having a cutting edge '25 adapted to sever one strand of the wire and the said cutting by the intermediate gear 7, see Figures 9 and 11.

Referring more especially to Figures 1 and 2, the wire tensioning means which forms an essential part of this invention comprises a hand lever 30 pivoted upon the stud or bolt 31 secured'in the upright web '32 of the frame 1. Also mounted upon the said stud 31 adjacent the lever 30 is a ratchet wheell33, and associated with said ratchet wheel is a wire grip-ping V-shaped groove 40 having the tangentially disposed recesses 41 adapted to receive the end 36 of the wire. I

The hand lever '30 has pivotally secured thereto as at 46 a dog. 48 having associated therewith a suitable spring 50 adapted to normally, maintain said dog in contact with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 33. A suitable detent 51 may be pivoted as at 52 to the web 32 of the frame 1 and controlled by a suitable spring 53 for the purpose of preventing reverse motion of the ratchet wheel 33 and its associated parts.

The mechanism employed in this invention for insuring at the end of the twisting operation the alinement of the slots 14, 15 and 16 of the twister pinion 9 with the slots 17 and 18 of the housing 6 and end member 10, comprises a lever 55 pivotally secured-to the upper portion of the end member 10 by the stud 56. One end of the said lever 55 is bent downwardly as at 57 and passes through ahole at one end 6f the pin 58 slidably mounted in a block 59 and extending through an elongated slot 60 in theend plate 10, see Figures 4 and 11.. The end 61 of the said pin- 58 is preferably beveled as shown in Figure 11, and is adapted to enter a recess or hole 62 in the large intermediate gear 7, as will be clear from the drawings.

The block 59. above referred to is provided with the vertical pins 63 and 64 slidably 66, see

mounted in the bosses integral with the end plate 10, and the said pin 63 may have associated with it a suitable compression sprin 65 for the purpose of maintaining the b? 60 as will facilitate the locking movements of the pin 58, which latter movements are undert e control of a suitable spiral spring igure 5. a

. Upon the completion of the twisting operation, it is frequently found diificult to ock 59 in such a position in the slot a curved lever member 70 pivoted as at 71 to the rear end 37 of the post 20, as will be clear from Figures 1, 4 and 5. Said lever '70 is also provided with the curved operating handle 77 which is located well inside the boss 78 which is integral with the member 10, and is therefore protected from injury by said boss when the machine is dropped end on, as experience shows often happens in practice. The center of gravity of the lever 70 is also to the right of the pivot 71, as seen in" Figure 4, and therefore when said lever is accidentally raised it automatically returns to the position shown in said figure, and thus normally keeps the wire ejecting member 74 in its retracted position. The extremelower and forward portion 80 of said lever 70 is of the hook or notched shape shown, and normally lies under the influence of gravity'in front of the twob-ights'of the tie wlre, and thus holds them in place in the slots 21 and 81' of the post 20, as illustrated.

The operation of thismachine will be clear from the foregoing, but may be briefly summarized 'as follows: The machine is placed upon the top surface of the box or other package around which the wire is to be fastened, and a deformed end 84 of the wire 47 having the shoulder 85 and depression 86, is introduced into the smaller slot 81 carried by the pin or post 20, see Figures 4, 6 and IUU The bight 88 of said wire is now carried 7 toward the right, as seen in Figure 1,

through the slots 18, '14, 16, 15 and 17,-

through the slot 23 in the post-22, and around the package until its bight 89 is brought back to the post 20 and passed through the wider slot 21 in said post, and

through said slots 18, 14, 16, 15, 17 and 23, to and around the groove 40 with which the ratchet' 33 is prgvided. From said groove 40, the end 36 of the bight 89 is passed into a slot 41 and thus held firmly while said ratchet 33 is turnedby the handle 30 toput a tension on the wire. After a sufiicient tightening of the wirehas thus been had, the lever 55 is depressed to withdraw the pin 58 from the hole 62 in the gear 7, and 'the handle 4, and shaft 3 is turned which turns the pinion 5, gear 7, and

twisting pinion 9, thus twisting the two bights 88 and 89 of the'wire together, as illustrated in Figure 10. As the gear 7 continues to revolve, during its twisting action, it carries with it the lug 28, which just before the completion of said twisting action strikes the end of the lever 26,.see Figure 11, and thus rotates the cutter 24'which the wire, and to thus bend the end 84 of said' wire into its dotted line position shown in Figure .7, by reason of the lower edge 93 of the slot 81 being cut away. This bending down of the end 84 of the wire as indicated in Figure 10, causes the same to lie down snugly against the bight 89 of the knot in Figure 10, and prevents it tearing'otherpackages which may he slid over said knot during shipment. In the same way, the rotary movement of the cutting edge 90 (Figure 3) bends down the severed end of the bight 89 and causes it to lie snugly against the bight 88 of the knot, as will be apparent from Figure 10, thus preventing said severed end from tearing packages moved over the same.

After the cutter lever has been moved by the lug 28 in the manner disclosed, it is immediately returned to .its normal position by the fiat member 95 having a tapered end fitting the groove 96 in said lever, see Figures 9 and 11. Said member 95 isprovided with the extension 97 and is controlled by the spring 98, as will be readily understood. 2

As the gear 7 continues to turn its hole 62 after a complete revolution will again register with the pin 58, and the end 61 of said pin will again enter said hole under the influence of the spring 66, thus stopping the twisting slot 16 in a position to register with its companion slots 17 and 18. Upon now throwing the lever 70 to the left, as seenin Figure 4, the pusher 74 will forcibly eject the twisted knot from the machine.

It will now be clear that when the pin 58 is in the hole 62, that/the slot 16 will always be in position to either'receiveor to discharge the wire.

It is anlmportant feature of this invention that the lever 70 normally, under the I action of gravity,.occupies its full line position shown in Figure 4, 01? it often happens that the operator. accidentally displaces a bight 88 or 89 ,from the post20 before the twisting operation, and when this occurs, said lever 7 O automatically restores the wire to its proper position. Further, the forward edge of the hook portion 80 of said lever 7 O is inclined as shown, which aids the operator to quickly guide the wire into the slot 21.

What 1s claimedis: Y

1. In a wire tying machine the combination of a frame provided with a plurality of wire receiving slots; twisting means com prising a slotted post and rotatable slotted means carriedby said frame adapted to twist the wire; means adapted to insure the 'alinement of the slots of said twisting means with the slots of said frame at the completion of the twisting operation; and means movable longitudinally of said post adapted to positively disengage the twisted wire from said post at the end of the twisting operation, substantially as described.

2. In a wire tying machine the combination of a frame provided with a plurality of wire receiving slots; means adapted to exert a tension on the wire; twisting means comprising a slotted post and a rotatable slotted means carried by said frame adapted to twist the wire; means adapted to insure the alinement of'the slots of said twisting means with the slots of said frame at! the completion of the twisting operation; automatic means adapted to sever the wire; and means guided by said post adapted to positively disengage, the twisted wire from all of said slots, substantially as described.

3. In a wire tying machine the combination of a wire twisting means comprising a slotted post and a slotted pinion; a gravity actuated latch adapted to hold parallel bights of wire in the slots of said post and pinion; a tensioning means comprising a ratchet; means to operate said ratchet; means movable longitudinally of said post to disengage the twisted wire therefrom; and a cutter for automaticallysevering the wire at the end of the twisting operation, substantially as described.

4. In a wire tying machine the combination of a twisting means I comprising a slotted post and pinion adapted to twist ,two bights of a wire togetherg/a gravity actuated latch associated with 'said -post adapted to hold said bights' in said post and pinion; means comprising a ratchet and lever to put one of said bights under tension: means for automatically severing one of said bights at the end of the twisting operation and means 5. In a wire tying machine the combination of means adapted to hold two bights of a wire in parallel relation; means to twist said bights together while so held; means associated with said first named means to forcibly remove the twisted bightsfrom the machine; means to automatically stop the twisting means in, a predetermined angular position; and means to automatically sever the wire, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures.

ALEC J. GERRARD,

PARVIN WRIGHT.- 

